Revisiting the GJNC Stars from 2017 – U17

<p><em>With the club season here several clubs and teams will approach 2018 with sights on the Girls’ Junior National Championships to be held in Detroit, MI (U15, U16, U17) and Anaheim, CA (U18). The GJNC is USA Volleyball’s pinnacle event for junior clubs. In anticipation of the big slate of qualifying events ahead we take a look back at highlights and star players representing Minnesota at the 2017 GJNC. Minnesota teams compete in and represent the North Country Region for USA Volleyball. </em></p> <p>Next, we revisit the U17 age division of which there were 20 Minnesota teams that competed across five divisions - Open, National, USA, American and Patriot. The following is a list of results for MN-based teams, including links to their club’s website for additional information about them:</p> <p><strong>17 Open</strong></p> <p><a href="https://www.northernlightsjuniors.org/">Northern Lights</a> 17-1 finished 11th with a 6-4 overall record. Their tournament ended with 2-0 loss in the Silver bracket semifinals. The Northern Lights 17-1 roster included <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="149" first="Eleanor" last="Holthaus"]</strong> (Rocori HS) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="9719" first="Ella" last="Ratzloff"]</strong> (East Ridge HS), 2017 MN high school all-state selections. </p> <p><strong>17 National</strong></p> <p>Two teams competed in the 17 National division with <a href="http://www.m1volleyball.com/">M1</a> 171 placing among the top-10 in 9th place with a 7-4 record. <a href="http://www.minnesotanorth.org/">MN North</a> 17-1 finished in 7th position with a 5-4 tournament record. </p> <p><strong>17 USA</strong></p> <p>No Minnesota North Country region teams competed in the 17 USA division.</p> <p><strong>17 American</strong></p> <p>The 17 American division was a golden opportunity as the Northern Lights 17-2 earned the national title with a 10-2 record. The championship match was an exciting three-set affair. NL came back from a first set lost to win set two 25-14. The third set was a barn burner as overtime was needed for NL to pull off the 16-14 win and capture the gold medal. A pair of 2017 Minnesota all-state high school selections, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="9727" first="Mary" last="Campbell"]</strong> (Bethlehem Academy) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="9751" first="Kennedy" last="Brady"]</strong> (Lakeville North HS), contributed to the effort. Also competing in this division were <a href="http://www.mnselect.com/">MN Select</a> 17-1 and <a href="http://www.swmnvb.com/">SWMNVB</a> 17-1, each finishing in 25th and 27th place respectively. Joining Brady on the 17 American All-Tournament team were <strong>Madison Bremer</strong> (Prior Lake HS) and tournament MVP, <strong>Elizabeth Stark</strong> (Washburn HS).</p> <p><strong>17 Patriot</strong></p> <p>A total of 13 teams competed in the 17 Patriot division with two teams finishing near the top tying for 5th place overall. Northern Lights 17-B finished with a 9-1 record while <a href="http://www.club43volleyball.com/">Club 43</a> U17 Gold finished at 8-2. Other teams competing in this division included Black Ice 17’s and Northern Lights 17-R tying for 13th position, <a href="http://www.stewiejovb.com/?/site">Stewie</a> 17 Blue (21st), <a href="http://www.gocrossfire.org/">Crossfire MN</a> 17-1 (25th), Club 43 U171 Nat (26th), M1 172 (29th), <a href="http://www.parkrapidsvolleyball.com/">PR Jrs</a> 17-1 (32nd), M1 17Blu  (35th), MN Select 17-2 and Crossfire MN 17-2 both in 37th place, and SMV 17-2 (39th).</p> <p>The state of Minnesota will continue to be a major force on the national scene in 2018 as these athletes and their respective teams prepare for qualifying season. Several of these athletes are in their final club season as a U18 and are undoubtedly experienced and poised to make a big impact on the club circuit over the next few months.</p>